Dan The (camera) Man, part 1

Armed with a TV camera he plunges into the bedroom of a sleeping NASCAR driver, catches on fire at a Kentucky racetrack, captures Olympic competition, and prepares to roam the sidelines of Monday Night Football
by Robb Fulcher
Published May 19, 2005

TV cameraman Dan Marinelli is on a roll. Just ask the producers of show “NASCAR Drivers 360” who praise his work in news interviews. Or the fans who have begun flocking to Schooners bar in Manhattan Beach to watch the talked-about reality show. Or the producers of Monday Night Football, who have hired the Hermosan to stare down wide receivers close up as they catch the ball on the sidelines.
“This is great,” Marinelli said of his upcoming primetime gig that fell into his lap unexpectedly after years of hard work.
Marinelli was relaxing after months of toil on his second “360” season – which debuted Friday on the FX channel – when he picked up a phone message at his apartment. After the beep he heard the voice of Jennifer Doyle, who rides herd on a wide variety of sports camera crews for ABC-TV.
“You have to return this call within 15 minutes,” Doyle said.
Marinelli pushed the buttons and reached Doyle, who told him to stand by his telephone the next day, at 11 a.m. California time. He did, and that’s when the producer and director of Monday Night Football called.
Marinelli was one of four people recommended for an open spot on the 16-camera crew for the upcoming season, the last one for ABC before Monday Night Football goes over to cable and ESPN. After a half-hour on the telephone with Dan, the bosses decided they didn’t need to call the others on the list.
“I can’t wait,” said the 39-year-old Marinelli, he of the firm handshake and upbeat outlook, as he recalled the phone interview.

Cameraman’s tour: General Petraeus, exploding luggage

by Robb Fulcher
Published February 28, 2008
TV cameraman Dan Marinelli is comfortable roaming the sidelines of NFL games and dodging angry coaches, but he upped the ante when he signed on for a trip to Iraq to shoot an interview with the commander of American and multinational forces.

The 10-day trip in January and February featured exploding luggage, an overnight stay in a former palace used by guests of Saddam Hussein’s notorious sons, and a face-to-face sit-down with Gen. David Petraeus for a public TV station in Denver.

“It was an amazing experience,” Marinelli said.

He was tapped for the job after he heard about it from a friend, Don Souza, a filmmaker and former Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce staffer who was headed to Iraq to produce the program where the interview would appear.

Marinelli, a combat engineer for the U.S. Army Reserves from 1983 to 1990, stressed his military experience in his pitch to Souza and Aaron Harber, the host of the Denver TV show. Harber used a university connection to land the interview: he and Petraeus both attended Princeton.